fabfatgrl

Thanks Anthony. I frequent the VSG board on Obesity Help and there is another Bandster there who just converted to a VSG/VG. I'm planning to as well once my son is weaned. How has your weight loss been? I'm seeing people down 50 pounds at around 3 months, which is amazing to me. It took me a whole year to lose that much with my Band. :clap2:

Yup. PB stands for productive burp. It's the term that's been used since I first started researching banding in 1999... but no idea who came up with it. Basically, if you eat too much, eat too quickly, eat pieces that are too big, eat foods that don't agree with your band.... you may PB. There are two types, in my experience... self-inflicted in order to remove that stuck feeling or to avoid the saliva from building up... and the oh crap, surprise PB... usually mixed with lots of saliva or stomach snot (trust me... when you see it, you'll know what I'm talking about). For a self-inflicted PB (at least for me), it's very easy... not like throwing up... basically, just lean over the toilet, cough or burp or whatever...and you regurgitate the extra. No effort. No stomach acid. No reflux. Not like vomiting, really.

Are you unfilled completely??? Is the vomiting pregnancy-related (1st trimester) or something else??? Just curious.

Is he still being proctored??? Any chance you could be one of those surgeries?? That way, a more experienced surgeon would be there to assist. How experienced is he with laprascopic surgery??? That's what I would wonder... more than with other WLS. However, in general, the magic number for Band surgeries is 50. That's when the whole learning curve levels off.

I don't have a lot of restriction, so I can eat all of my points. Now, when I was super tight, I don't think I could have unless I drank melted butter. But these days, normal points no problem. I actually think WW and the Band are a good combo... as one can work with both so that one doesn't have to rely solely on fills for compliance... but should still feel rather full. One thing I've always wondered is whether or not to credit myself points if I PB. LOL Some days, I do...others I'll give myself 1/2.

Hi Everybody: Well, in a few days it will be my 5th BAndiversary. I am very grateful for what my Band allowed me to achieve... * loss of 95 pounds (regained 1/2 when I was unfilled during pregnancies) * two healthy children and the ability to be unfilled during both pregnancies--thus not worry about bizarro nutriional complications * finally to have some weight loss success... even if some of you would not think of keeping off 45-50 pounds without a fill for 3 years a success. I never ever successfully lost more than 17 pounds on any diet prior to the Band. The only way I achieved a 17 pound weight loss was imprisoning myself for a month at a ultra low fat vegan health spa in Utah. Within one week, I had regained 1/2 of it... and continued to gain. (For those of you who lost tons and regained... I never even got to that stage ) *love of exercise...moving. I was always the fat kid who hated gym...but now I go absoluetely crazy if I can't get outside and move each day BUT, after having a super small fill (1.3 ccs... smaller than any fill I've ever had)... and having lots of PBs and stomach snots from it, I don't think I can go on with my Band... with the fills, PBs, etc. I'm just tired of it, y'know?? I had forgotten about always having plastic bags in my purse in cased I PBed... of having to find the bathroom in every restaurant first, before eating... of pureeing most of my foods if I could, in hopes I could eat some. I can't do it anymore. I'm sorry. I thought that after a three year break, I could... but I can't. Anybody else go through this?? I'm not trying to scare newbies or pre-ops... know that I can take out that 1.3 ccs and be pretty much back to normal (although big old chunks of meat can still get stuck).... it's just, I'm tired of it. Also, hunger is totally different this time. Before I was never hungry... thanksgiving full. Now, even when my pouch is full, I'm starving. Bizarro. So what about you long-timers? Are you still getting fills? I was in active fill mode for my first 18 months and all indications were that would continue.. as I seemed to lose a bit every few months, even though officially my port was not leaking (it was checked). The pain of finding a fill doc... scheduling... paying another $350+.... I'm tired. Rant over. Just sad and tired. Hoping to find others who maybe were refilled after a long time and got back into it.

Hi Kashia: I definitely got way tighter during my period... although I don't remember it during my pregnancies. I did get unfilled for both pregnancies for safety's sake. I also am tighter in the morning. I'd try getting unfilled while you're pregnant and see how things go. Remember, when you're in your last trimester, the uterus compresses all of your organs up... I wouldn't think you'd want to be filled then with your slip. Karla

Niki... try putting in a food processor with a little bit of milk (1 T or so) after it's frozen. It really does become like banana soft-serve!

Hi Paula: Right now I'm leaning towards the VSG. Basically, they remove 85% of your stomach and create a long thin stomach "sleeve." Both pylori (pyloruses?) are in tact. Seems to really affect ghrelin levels which regulate hunger, but no intestinal re-routing. I'm still not ready for that. Also, from what I can tell, people don't have the getting stuck phenomenon... although some will PB if they eat too much. They also don't seem to have the hunger sensation even though your upper-pouch is full. Now, the bad thing is the 85% of your stomach is gone forever... it's not coming back. And you do face the risk (albeit rare) of leaks right after surgery. But... it's viewed as an extremely safe operation... originally done on super obese people who were considered too much of an operative risk to have the DS or RNY. They did this... they lost some weight... then did the second part if needed. One doc I've spoken to says only about 20% of his patients have needed the DS portion. The LapSF guys have results that show similar weight loss to RNY/DS... 83% of excess weight. And no fills :cool: We'll see. Surgery again is still scary... and actually, I have a lot more to think about now that I have two kids. On the one hand, the benefits of weight loss mean more... on the other hand, so do the risks of surgery. Karla

I don't think you can prevent erosion... unless you are just scary tight for too long. As for slippage, avoiding vomiting... PBs... etc. No pouch packing. I really think that the Band should be used as a tool with a diet program like Weight Watchers. Use it so you can stick and be happy with the diet... but don't depend on super-duper restriction to lose all of your weight.

She was all apart of the Spotlight Health site.... Carnie was the RNY poster-girl and Anne had the Band. Haven't heard much about it though in forever. Sharon Osborne is the only long-term public bandster I can think of. I think she got it done in 1998 or 1999, but Im not exactly sure when. I remember reading somewhere that her PBing drove Ozzie nuts. No idea if that's true. I remember there were rumors about Anna Nicole Smith having a band... and that's why Trim Spa worked so well. I never saw that justified anywhere. Let's see...and then there's always Star Jones... but my best bet is that she's had a DS, not a Band or RNY. She just got too skinny, too fast.

HI Alexandra: I am really thinking of getting the Band removed. Yes, I'm going to get the baby fill removed too... but then I'm stuck with what to do. I had another fill that had to be removed after two days in between my pregnancies. It was bigger...and was done under fluoro... and I had big time problems with it. Honestly, these two fills are the only time I've ever had issues like this... prior, the closest thing I got was having a fill that didn't last. I've never had reflux or esophogitis. I don't know what I'd do if I was you...only you know :cool: You can always get your fill removed if it's an issue. For me, if I'd be happy with a size 14/16--so Id probably do nothing if I could maintain that. I"d also consider doing WW or something similar as a maintenance or even additional weight loss tool. I did rejoin WW a few weeks ago, but with things getting stuck and ravenous hunger... I haven't been able to stick on program. I think we all have the magic number where if we hit it again, we begin to look at other options. For me it was 250. When I was about 230, I was pretty OK (my first post-pregnancy weight.) I would have liked to weigh 215... because I wore a size 16 then... but an 18 was OK. It was still better than a 28 But 250 is just too much. And I've been trying to get down to 230 or below for 8 months and no luck. So now, I'm looking at other options. I think that the figure that some people with the Band ignore is that 50% of excess weight loss is a success. (Actually, that's considered a success for any form of WLS--not just the BAnd.) And from what I've seen of the longer studies, it's pretty much around what one can expect. Maybe you'll hit 60% if you're lucky... but you do have to know that 50% figure and ask yourself will you be happy. So for me, I weighed 297... my ideal weight by BMI standards was probably 135. My "ideal" was around 170. So using my standards... excess weight was 127 pounds, 50% of that was 63.5 pounds. Staying around 230 then... was just about right. Anything better was a bonus. Karla

2.5 months.... it was my first fill ever without fluoro.... so I'm trying to schedule a flouor in a few weeks to check on things.

Sometimes with self-pays they give you bargain rates... and the understanding is that if they can get more from your insurance company, that's a bonus for them. $8500 is pretty cheap... consider yourself lucky.

Ideas from a fellow Ice cream addict: 1)ADD FRUIT: What i used to do was to add fruit to the ice cream... strawberries or other berries, bananas, etc. That gives you bulk so that you can't fit that much in your pouch. I found that with fruit, I'd be totally stuffed if I had a kiddie sized cup. 2)DON'T HAVE IT IN THE HOUSE: Make yourself go out for it...and when you do, vow to only order the small or kiddie size. AS an added incentive, give yourself some other goal to achieve before you can treat yourself... like xyz minutes of cardio or weights, must have drunk xyz oz of Water, etc. 3)BUY INDIVIDUAL PORTIONS: My biggest problem was the never-ending pint. I'd eat the whole pint. But if I bought some form of ice cream bar or novelty, there was more acknowledgment of what a healthful/normal serving was. I knew I was on my second or third serving when I went back to the fridge...whereas with the pint, before I knew it, my spoon was scraping the bottom. 4)EAT IT CONSCIOUSLY: No Tv, no radio, no distractions. Try using a baby spoon (can buy a gazillion plastic ones for like $2). Savor it. You may find that you don't even like it (really!)... or that you prefer different flavors, lower fat versions, whatever. gaiam.com has a conscious eating set with meditations and cards... might be helpful 4)TRY LOW-FAT: Haagen-Dazs, Edy's/Dreyer's Slow-Churned Low-Fat versions, Ben & Jerry's Frozen Yogurt/Low Fat (Body & Soul?)... all are really yummy. If you combine them with fruit, it's actually a pretty healthful treat. You could have a 1/2 cup of low-fat ice cream/yogurt with 1/2 cup of berries and you'd be out about 160 calories or so.

I have a 9.75 cm band.... holds 4 ccs... I think my uber-fill was around 2.8 ccs (uber-fill was that one magic fill where everything was good, weight loss was great, etc.) Hey...seeing it's the smallest size must mean I have a skinny stomach. Cool! Now all I need to do is to get the outside to match!

Have to add that there have been studies done that show that sweet-eating is not a predictor of success or failure with the Lap-Band. Yes, that is the commonly held view... if you like sweets, then have an RNY because the dumping won't let you have them... but, it doesn't seem to hold true in a research study. I've also been told by a few surgeons that men tend to do better with the Band than women... because they tend to be volume eaters (of all types)... I've seen nothing study-wise to prove or disprove that. Obes Surg. 2002 Dec;12(6):789-94. Related Articles, Links Sweet eating is not a predictor of outcome after Lap-Band placement. Can we finally bury the myth? Hudson SM, Dixon JB, O'Brien PE. Monash University Department of Surgery, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3181, Australia. BACKGROUND: It is common belief that sweet eaters will do poorly after gastric restrictive surgery. There is scant evidence for this and significant evidence that sweet eating behavior is not predictive of weight outcome. Preoperative and current sweet eating behavior was assessed in subjects who have had Lap-Band surgery, to find if this influenced weight outcomes. METHOD: 200 unselected patients who had bands inserted for > 1 year completed a questionaire regarding preoperative sweet eating behavior. The last 100 patients also reported current sweet eating behavior. Sweet eating was scored using a standard dietary questionnaire. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD % excess weight loss at 1 year (% EWL1) for the 100 with the highest preoperative sweet eating scores (SES) was 47.1 +/- 16% compared with a loss of 48.2 +/- 16% by those with the lowest SES (P = 0.64). Analysis showed no significant linear or non-linear correlation between the SES and the % EWL. For the highest quintile of SES, the EWL1 was 47.3 +/- 14% and for the lowest was 46.1 +/- 16% (NS). Sweet eaters were younger (r = -0.21, P = 0.003) and had higher fasting insulin concentrations (r = -0.18, P = 0.03). Preoperative SES had no influence on % EWL1 after controlling for factors known to influence weight loss. % EWL at 2 years (n = 130) and 3 years (n = 88) were not different for sweet eaters and non-sweet eaters. Current sweet eating tendency (n = 100) also had no impact on % EWL. CONCLUSION: Sweet eaters do not have less favorable weight outcomes following Lap-Band surgery. Our study confirms the findings of two other major studies. Sweet eating behavior should not be used as a preoperative selection criterion for bariatric surgery. PMID: 12568183 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Wow! You really have your hands full, Jane. Congratulations on all of your kids and your soon to be new family member. :eek: Thanks for the post about eating with your kids... I always feel like I'm trying to squeeze in a meal, rather than actually eating one. OF course, because of that, I tend to eat quickly... and get stuck....

Thought I'd also post an article that looking at the DS after a failed restrictive operation, such as the Lap-Band: Obes Surg. 2006 Mar;16(3):258-61. Duodenal switch without gastric resection after failed gastric restrictive surgery for morbid obesity. Di Betta E, Mittempergher F, Di Fabio F, Casella C, Terraroli C, Salerni B. Department of General Surgery, University of Brescia School of Medicine, Brescia, Italy. edibetta@libero.it BACKGROUND: Several surgical treatments have been proposed for patients in whom gastric restrictive operations have failed. The aim of this study was to analyze the effectiveness and safety of duodenal switch (DS) with restoration of normal gastric capacity in such patients. METHODS: Between May 2001 and May 2003, 11 DS with restoration of normal gastric capacity were performed without other gastric procedures in patients who had had previous gastric restrictive operations which had failed because of inadequate weight loss or weight regain. Data were collected and follow-up was 2 years for all patients. RESULTS: At the original operation, mean BMI was 47.3 (range 38-53) kg/m2, and mean age was 42 years. 7 of the 11 patients (63.6%) had previous vertical banded gastroplasty, and 4 of the 11 (36.4%) had previous laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. Mean percentage weight regain and mean BMI at the time of DS were 92.1% and 44.6 (range 35-53) kg/m2 respectively. After the second operation, mean BMI at 6 months was 35.4 kg/m2, at 12 months 31.7 kg/m2 and at 24 months 28.6 kg/m2. The % excess weight loss was 41.1 after 6 months, 56.6 after 12 months and 69.6 after 2 years. There was minor morbidity and no mortality. CONCLUSION: After this experience, we suggest that patients with failed gastric restrictive operations (weight regain or inadequate weight loss) may undergo DS with restoration of normal gastric capacity. This second operation proved to be safe and effective. PMID: 16545155 [PubMed - in process]

:heh: Kids don't have to diagram sentences anymore??? I didn't know that!

I do know that there was an older form of the surgery called the BPD without the duodenal switch which is supposedly where all the smelly rumors came from. I've met a few people who've had a DS, and I never knew that they had it... until they told me. (Didn't smell either. ) You do have to be much more vigilant with labs and Vitamins and such.... most Bandsters I know are total slackers regards to that... and never really had to worry much about them. You also have to more vigilant with birth control (if you're of child-bearing age)... most docs want you on two forms of birth control for the first 18-24 months. I've pretty much decided that I'm going to have my Band removed and do something. I'm leaning towards the VSG (part 1 of the DS) with a potential DS later.... but there's part of me that's saying why not do the whole shebang now?

Rachele...I'm so happy for you. It's much harder having IBS in NYC (where I live now), then in suburbia. Here, there are very few public restrooms... and those that exist are pretty nasty. You usually have to beg beg beg to be let in one.

Back when I had surgery, there was this common belief that if you loved sweets, you should have an RNY. You would fail with the Band. Well, I loved sweets, but had no desire to have an RNY. And I did fine. Seems like there is now research backing that up! (It's old...but I just found it.) Thing is, I still see this being used as a decision making criteria here in the States. Sweet eating is not a predictor of outcome after Lap-Band placement. Can we finally bury the myth? Hudson SM, Dixon JB, O'Brien PE. Monash University Department of Surgery, Alfred Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria 3181, Australia. BACKGROUND: It is common belief that sweet eaters will do poorly after gastric restrictive surgery. There is scant evidence for this and significant evidence that sweet eating behavior is not predictive of weight outcome. Preoperative and current sweet eating behavior was assessed in subjects who have had Lap-Band surgery, to find if this influenced weight outcomes. METHOD: 200 unselected patients who had bands inserted for > 1 year completed a questionaire regarding preoperative sweet eating behavior. The last 100 patients also reported current sweet eating behavior. Sweet eating was scored using a standard dietary questionnaire. RESULTS: Mean +/- SD % excess weight loss at 1 year (% EWL1) for the 100 with the highest preoperative sweet eating scores (SES) was 47.1 +/- 16% compared with a loss of 48.2 +/- 16% by those with the lowest SES (P = 0.64). Analysis showed no significant linear or non-linear correlation between the SES and the % EWL. For the highest quintile of SES, the EWL1 was 47.3 +/- 14% and for the lowest was 46.1 +/- 16% (NS). Sweet eaters were younger (r = -0.21, P = 0.003) and had higher fasting insulin concentrations (r = -0.18, P = 0.03). Preoperative SES had no influence on % EWL1 after controlling for factors known to influence weight loss. % EWL at 2 years (n = 130) and 3 years (n = 88) were not different for sweet eaters and non-sweet eaters. Current sweet eating tendency (n = 100) also had no impact on % EWL. CONCLUSION: Sweet eaters do not have less favorable weight outcomes following Lap-Band surgery. Our study confirms the findings of two other major studies. Sweet eating behavior should not be used as a preoperative selection criterion for bariatric surgery. PMID: 12568183 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

I had severe IBS with urgency pre-Band and having a Band helped a lot. I guess because it slowed down the food and how it entered the bowel. Prior to that I was on Levsin, Immodium, etc.

Another option is the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy... .might be great for you because of your low BMI, success with the Band, and self-pay reasons. Self-pay usually runs around $18000 from what I've seen. I think Pleatman does this as well. I'm not trying to be this big VSG proponent but I've seen some really good results from it on the Obesity Help board as well as some surgeons' yahoo groups. www.lapsf.com has the best pages on it.